After All These Years
by AddictedRomantic
Summary: We can't do this anymore...' 'I know...' They haven't spoken since that day, almost five years ago. What will happen when he comes back and finds out the secret that will change his life forever...? A Rogan
1. Late Night Blues

_**After All These Years**_

**Chapter One - Late Night Blues**

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--Flashback _

-- -- -- -- -- -- 

_"We can't do this anymore…" He muttered the words he had already began to regret._

_"I know…" was her only reply as a silent, lone, tear cascaded down her pale cheeks. _

_--End Flashback _

"Mommy…"

"Yes, Emma, baby?" Rory, mother of one, looked into her daughters sleep-filled eyes and gave her a small smile.

"I love you."

"I love you too, baby." Her small smile, turning into an eye reaching, smile as she kissed the top of the four year olds blonde head.

"And I know that my daddy doesn't live here and that I have never met my daddy, but I love him too, and my only wish is that I could see him. Just once." Emma added with a sad smile.

"I know baby, I know." Replied Rory as she held her daughter in her arms and waited for her to fall asleep.

Rory sighed as she stood up from the couch, holding Emma as she slept and turned the television off before making her way up the stairs and down the hall of their three-bed-roomed apartment and into Emma's room. She quickly changed Emma into her pink and purple pocka-dot pyjama's and pulled back her sheets and tucked her into bed. Emma gave her mom a lazy smile and a quiet 'love you mommy' before turning on her side and attempting to fall to sleep once more.

"Love you too babe." Rory whispered as she smoothed her daughter's long, blonde hair out of her face.

Rory sighed once more and left for her own bedroom at the opposite end of the hall. She herself quickly changed and hopped into bed, she knew it would be another night of restless sleeping. Most nights Rory could fall to sleep without even thinking of him for she was either too exhausted from her busy day at work or she had other things on her mind, but there were nights like these that were just too much and she allowed herself to think of all the pain she had gone through almost five years ago.

--_Flashback_

_Logan__ Huntzberger made his way down the hall to their __Hartford__ apartment knowing that whatever he was about to say or do would be the right choice. Whatever he did, he had to do it, it was his _only_ choice. _

_He pulled out his key and placed it in the lock, paused for a moment and took a deep breath. _'I don't want to do this, but I have to do this.' _He thought to himself. _

_Logan__ turned the key and walked into the apartment. He didn't see her anywhere. _'Maybe she isn't home?'

_"Ace, are you here?" he called out to Rory, hoping she wasn't home so he could think everything through one more time. He knew he wouldn't tell her the absolute truth, just part of it. _

_"Yeah," she called back. "In the study." _

'Damnit!' _he inwardly cursed. "Um, do you think you could come out here for a minute?" he called to her again. _

_"Just a sec." she replied before getting up form her place on the floor and walking into the living room to find Logan, her boyfriend of nearly three years, sitting with his head in his hands. "Hey," she said, voice filled with concern as she sat next to him and placed a hand on his upper arm. "What's wrong?" _

_When her hand touched his arm, __Logan__ flinched and stood up and started pacing in front of her. _

_"_ _Logan__, what's wrong?" Rory said, eyebrows furrowing. To say she was taken aback by his actions towards her and what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, would be an understatement, she had never really seen him like this. At least not towards her._

_He stopped and looked at her and then continued pacing. "Um … well … you see …" he stuttered and tried to find the right words, but failed. _

_"_ _Logan__, spit it out. What's wrong?" Rory asked more forcefully, causing __Logan__ to stop and look her in the eyes. They were filled with hurt, concern and confusion. All were caused by him and that broke his heart. _

'Damnit! I just wish it didn't have to be this way.' _"We…" he started again but stopped. _

_"Yes…?" _

_"Wecantdothisanymore." He blurted out in a quiet and rushed voice, though Rory was very good at picking up things and understood what he had said. _

_Rory let out a hollow laugh. "I'm sorry, but I just thought that you said that we can't do this anymore." she finished looking up at him questionably. _

_"That's right. We can't do this anymore." He said slowly and clearly whilst looking in her eyes for a sign or something as to how she was feeling but he couldn't see any. Her whole face had paled and become expressionless. She just sat there, her eyes wide and mouth agape. She couldn't and didn't want to believe what he just said. _

_After a few moments Rory spoke up. "Huh?" she paused. "Can I ask why?" he nodded "Ok. Are you bored? Are you cheating on me? Is it my mom because I swear she likes you, she took her time but I kn-" _

_"Rory," __Logan__ cut her off. "I'm not cheating on you and it isn't your mom." He spoke slowly as he was thinking every word through. "It's not working anymore. Not for me." _'That's lie number one.' _Every word he spoke seemed to be breaking her because every time __Logan__ opened his mouth she flinched. _

_"My grandfather is pressuring me to find a suitable wife; he wants me to have an heir for the business A.S.A.P." _'Lie number two.' _Those words struck a cord for she was now slumped back in the chair and she looked like she had been slapped across the face. "I didn't want to do this to you Ror. I'm sorry. I really Am." he ran a hand through his hair. "I love you, but I'm not in _love_ with you." _'Lie number three.' _"I don't want to hurt you." _

_"Too late for that now isn't it." She muttered to herself though __Logan__ still heard her. "This hurts. I can't believe this. God…How long have you felt like this? I love you" she heaved a heavy sigh. "This hurts." She repeated. "You have no freaking idea as to how much this hurts." Her voice quiet, but low, and full of anger. _

_"Rory …" he started and moved forward and placed a hand on her thigh. _

_"No." Rory stated firmly as she stood and walked a few steps away from him, out of reaching distance. "No," she said again, shaking her head. "You did this." Tears started to fill her eyes and her voice was full of hurt and anger as were her eyes. It was all starting to sink in. _

_Logan__ nodded his head. "I know." Another pause then a quiet, "We can't do this anymore…" He muttered the words he had already began to regret. _

_"I know…" was her only reply as a silent, lone, tear cascaded down her pale cheeks before she walked out of the apartment and to someone she knew she could count on. _

_--End Flashback _

Rory lay motionless in her bed, as tears rolled down her flushed face. She would never forget how hurt she had felt when he said he wasn't in love with her anymore. It was so hard, still is so hard, but she couldn't help but think that there was something more to the reason he broke-up with her, something he didn't tell her. Rory felt as though that day was horrible, though the day after wasn't much better.

_--Flashback_

_Rory looked awful. She had been crying all night at Steph and Colin's whilst eating junk food and watching movies with Steph. She had showered but she hadn't put any make-up on and her eyes were puffy and red. She also knew that going to the apartment today was going to hurt but she had to get everything out of there before she couldn't, or before he had a guest over. Today it had to be. _

_Rory looked in the review mirror of her car one last time before getting out and heading up to their apartment. _'No, it isn't _their_ apartment anymore, it's _his_. God, this is too hard.' _She had to keep telling herself it wasn't hers anymore; it hadn't been hers since last night. _

_Rory had been to deep in thought to have noticed that Finn, one of her closest friends in the world, was paying __Logan__ a visit. But once she got to the front door of the apartment, she had, because the accented Australian could be heard quiet easily, yelling. _

_"Why are you doing this? She is the best bloody thing that has ever happened to you." The obviously angry Australian exclaimed. _

_Rory couldn't hear Logan's reply, she guessed that he was trying to calm Finn down. She took a deep breath, slowly and quietly opened the door and walked in trying not to let the boys hear her enter. Rory had been too busy trying to keep quiet that she hadn't noticed a pair of shoes near the door and tripped causing her to loose her balance and let out a slight squeal. She hadn't thought the noise was loud enough to interrupt the boys but she was wrong as they both came around the corner to find her fixing herself up. Finn looked shocked, obviously surprised that she be here. _

_"Love?" he asked in a quiet voice. _

_"Hi Finn." She stated as she walked past both of them and into the study to start filling box after box with all her possessions. _

_Finn followed her and started helping her with her books, claiming the quicker she left the better she would feel though they both knew that she didn't want to leave, she loved Logan, even after what happened. The two had been through too much together to just give up on him in a few hours. No, she knew it would take quite awhile to get over one, __Logan__ Huntzberger. _

_Logan__ had walked into which ever room the two would be in and gave them both coffees. He knew Rory wouldn't ignore the drink but was a little surprised when she did at first. After a few minutes her plan to ignore the beverage was destroyed as the smell took over her. __Logan__ had also tried talking to her but that was a dumb thing to do as it was though he was talking to a brick wall. What surprised him a lot though was that Finn was ignoring him, so he thought, just like Rory was. _'I never knew I could loose a best friend over a girl. But Rory was never just some girl; she was 'the' girl. Man this is screwed up.' _Were __Logan__'s thought as he was forced to pretend he had things do to whilst the two laughed and giggled about things they found. _

_Rory and Finn had been packing things away for about three, four hours when Finn stood at the front door waiting for Rory as she checked that she hadn't left anything behind for the last time. "You got everything, love?" Finn asked for the third time. _

_Rory gave him a sad smile and nodded. "Yeah, I do." She looked around the room one last time, somewhat wistfully. She was definitely going to miss this place. _

_"Ok then. We'll get you settled in the quest room in my apartment before we go to meet your mother?" asked Finn. _

_Rory turned to look at him, fully aware of __Logan__'s presence in the room with them. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks Finn." _

_"No worries, love. This is what a friend does for the ones they love." He gave her a sweet kiss on the top of her head and picked up the last box and walked out the door and into the hall to wait for her. _

_Rory and Logan stood there for a few moments, silently, until Rory moved to pull something out of her pocket. _'Gosh. This makes it so final. I don't want to do this.' _Rory thought as tears started to spring to her eyes. _'No. Don't cry, it'll only make it worse.' _She took a deep breath and held out the object from her pocket out to him. _

_"What's this?" he asked as confusion washed over him. _

_Rory rolled her eyes. "It's my key to _your_ apartment." She stated with a slightly shaky voice and emphasised the word your. _

_Logan__ took the key from her and looked at it sadly. _'This makes it seem so final.' _He thought. He looked back at her and nodded. "So I guess this is goodbye?" _

_Rory looked to the floor, hoping her tears would subside but it didn't help. It only caused them to roll down her cheeks. She looked back to him and nodded also. "Yep, this is goodbye." She said in her calmest voice possible. _

_Seeing her cry, __Logan__ felt another painful tug at his heart. "Ace…" he said stepping forward which only made her step back. He sighed. _

_"You don't get to call me 'Ace' anymore __Logan__; you lost the rite last night, along with so many others." _

_"Rory…" he tried again. _

_"No. This is goodbye, so…" she looked him straight in the eye and saw the emotions swirling through them. _'There is so much more to this break-up…' _"Bye Logan." She stated simply. _

_"Bye Rory." He said with another sigh. He felt the heat in his eyes and knew he was on the verge of tears. _

_Rory ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I better get going…Finn might…" she started feeling very awkward. _

_Logan__ nodded in understanding. "Bye Ror." _

_"Bye." She looked him in the eye once more as the tears began to spill. She quickly turned and walked out of his apartment and joined Finn, the tears not stopping anymore, nor was she trying to stop them. Finn placed a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He pressed the button for the elevator and the doors opened immediately. They stood inside, waiting for the doors to close. Rory looked to the door of Logan's apartment and saw Logan standing there looking hurt and noticed that there were a few tears slowly spilling down his beautiful face. The doors closed and he was gone. She would never have anything to do with him again. _

_--End Flashback_

Rory took a deep breath and wiped the fallen tears from her cheeks. She pulled the covers back and walked down the hall and stood in the doorway to her daughter's room. _'Their daughter…" _she thought as she sniffed and wiped a tear from her face. Gosh, Emma had always reminded her of him so much, and of herself. She had his messy blonde hair and his clean and tidy ways. She had Rory's startling blue eyes and crazy coffee addiction even at the age of four. She had both their intelligence combined and already had a passion for reading and writing. Emma really was their daughter, there was no doubt about it.

Emma felt a presence in her room, she hadn't been able to get to sleep. She rolled over and looked at the figure leaning against the doorjamb to her room. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Mommy?"

"Sorry babe. I didn't mean to wake you." Rory answered as she made her way to sit on the edge of her daughters bed.

"You didn't wake me. I can't sleep." The young girl stated as she sat up.

"Really? What can't you sleep?"

"I have been thinking about daddy."

"Oh," Rory paused for a moment. She should have known this. Always, after they talk about Logan, even for only a minute, they both end up lying awake in their beds. "Well, come on. You can come sleep with me."

"Really?" Emma asked as a huge smile appeared on her face.

"Really." replied an also smiling Rory. Emma slipped out from her bed and ran to her mother's room. Rory walking behind her, slipped under the covers next to her and pulled her close as Emma snuggled into her side.

"Mommy?" came Emma's quiet voice.

"Yeah honey?"

"Were you thinking about daddy too?"

"Yeah, baby. I was thinking about Logan too." Rory replied with a small sigh.

"Can you tell me another story about him, and uncle Finn, and uncle Colin, and uncle Tristan?"

"Of course." Rory made sure they were both comfortable before continuing. "It was a few years ago, before you were born, and they were all on a yacht. It's like a boat." Rory added seeing the look of confusion on Emma's face. "The four of them were sailing around Fiji when …"

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**A/N: This story will probably be confusing if I don't do this so here it is. An explanation of my story.: **

**Lorelai Leigh Gilmore-Hayden, aka Rory: **

**Age: 26 **

**Marital Status: nil. Single mother **

**Children: one, Emma Victoria Gilmore-Hayden-Huntzberger, 4 **

**Job: BLUSH! magazine in ****Hartford****. Fashion editor. **

**Parents: Lorelai and Christopher Hayden **

**Siblings: one. Kevin, 22. **

**Rory Gilmore-Hayden is a single mother at the age of twenty-six. Her daughter, Emma, has never met her father, ****Logan**** Huntzberger, but knows a lot about him. Rory and Logan dated, like in the show. Practically, everything that happened on the show has taken place before my story, with a few little added bits and some taken out for my liking, but ****Logan**** never left for ****London**** at the end of season six. He still graduated early but stayed in ****Hartford**** working for Mitchum for a year. **

**They had been dating for a while and were living together, after Rory graduated, around one month after her twenty-second birthday, (8th October) her and Logan broke-up and Rory was actually a month pregnant but she didn't know this. She went another month, then being two months pregnant not knowing until one day she was out to lunch with Stephanie Vanderbilt, and collapsed in the toilet of a restaurant. Steph took her to the hospital and they found out she was pregnant. **

**Logan**** had disappeared about a week after he and Rory broke-up. No-one knew why or where he went except for his father, mother and older sister Honor. He had began working in ****London**** and when Rory was given the news that she was pregnant she had looked for him to let him know, knowing that she couldn't and shouldn't keep the news from him. She had no such luck though and decided to tell Mitchum and only Mitchum, that she was carrying his son's child. (Lorelai, Chris, both grandparents, Finn, Colin, Steph, and a few other knew that ****Logan**** was the father also.) **

**Mitchum was left with the decision as to tell Logan, if he heard from him or not. (Rory didn't know that Mitchum knew of ****Logan****'s whereabouts and still doesn't). If you hadn't figured it out already, Mitchum never told ****Logan**** about Rory and the baby, knowing that if he told ****Logan****, he would be on the first plane back from ****London**** and he knew that his son couldn't do that. So that brings us to the happenings of now…. **

**Rory lives with Emma, her four year old daughter in a spacious apartment in Hartford, ****Connecticut****. She works for a women's/fashion magazine and is the fashion editor. (She advises all the photo shoots held for the magazine. If you don't get what I mean, I mean she picks all the clothing for, you know how in the magazines there are multiple pages of a single model in different clothing styles. Well Rory consults those; I think that's what I mean. She also writes story every now and then on new designers and all those sorts of things.) **

**Rory's twenty-seventh birthday is coming up and a party is held at the elder Gilmore's estate for her. Little does Rory know that one, ****Logan**** Huntzberger is back after an almost five year hiatus and everything is shaken up more then just a little. **

**Rory also has a good relationship with the elder Hayden's and they live in ****Hartford****. During the story there will be many Finn moments along with Tristan, Colin and Steph. They, along with Rory and Logan all attended Yale and their times together will be explained better, later. **

**I guess this story is said to be predictable, as in Rory and Logan will meet and the truth of Emma will come out and all that, but I hope it wont be like that, at least not too much. **

**If there are anymore confusions, just ask and I'll be more then happy to clear them up. I hope my explanation doesn't confuse you too much; I tried to explain it as best as I could without giving a lot away. But we'll see how it goes. **

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**Please Review and let me know what you think. I love to know what people think but please if you didn't like it, don't abuse me or anything. This is only my first fan-fiction.**

**And if someone would like to be my beta i would love that. Even if they just read through it to make sure there were no spelling errors would be fantastic because I am such a careless typer. Lol!**

**I should update soon….**

**- Kassidy . **


	2. Old Friends

**Discl****aimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls which really sucks! **

**Now…On to the story !

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_**After All These Years**_

**Chapter Two – Old Friends**

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_One Week Later …Friday morning._

Rory let out a frustrated sigh as she ran her hand through her coffee brown curls. She was late for work, again. Finn, Emma's godfather, was late to pick her up, again! She loved Finn, she really did, except for the fact that he and Paris were like dogs on heat, making him late most mornings. _'Gosh, elevators are so slow these days.'_ Rory thought to herself. _'I hope they haven't been waiting too long.'_ Even though Rory was the editor of her section, Fashion, at BLUSH! Magazine, she hated keeping those who worked for her waiting, especially when she had called an important staff meeting.

After what seemed like twenty minutes, a faint 'ding!' rang throughout the small compartment and the doors opened revealing the Fashion, Advice and Men's sections of the popular Hartford magazine.

Rory quickly made it down the familiar hall of the second floor and walked straight past her office and Marc, the gay secretary of the floor, also one of her closest friends, and into one of the conference rooms where her staff meeting was to be held. She burst through the door and immediately apologized for running late.

"I'm so sorry guys, Finn was supposed to pick Emma up and we all know how he feels about the sun in the morning," She said with a smile. Her co-workers either laughed or frowned. Few of them didn't like Finn, they weren't used to his large persona, but others loved him and couldn't get enough of him. He was also the lead photographer so they had to have some amount of respect for him; he was a good man and made the office brighter, at least everyone agreed with that.

"Ok, so how are everyone's articles' going for next month's issue? "Are we making good headway?" I know that we have gotten off to a rocky start this month but we must keep at it…" Rory questioned the group for another twenty minutes and discussed photo shoot times, and other such things. The meeting was going really well, no interruptions had issued until Finn came through the door in a casual manner that is.

"Finn, what are you doing here? Isn't it too early for you?" Rory asked with a smile.

"Well, love, Emma didn't feel like going to day-care today, so me being the amazing and kind godfather I am didn't force her too." Finn answered with a pleased smile plastered on his face.

Rory, along with others only shook her head. "We'll talk about this later Finn..." Was her only reply before she motioned for him to have a seat and continued with the meeting.

About twenty minutes later she was standing in the break room with Finn sipping on her third cup of coffee.

"Love, you do know that that stuff is going to slowly kill you?" Finn asked, it didn't matter how well he knew her, he was still amazed at her ability to drink a steaming hot cup of coffee in about 5 mouthfuls.

"Finny, Finny, Finny, when will you ever learn?" Rory asked shaking her head and patting him on the head like a bad puppy in amusement as she walked past him and washed her mug, then turn and leave the room, Finn following close behind.

"Love, you know I hate it when you call me that." Finn stated with a look of disgust for the nickname played across his face.

"Oh, but you think it's adorable when Emma calls you _Finny_!" Rory said a smirk on her face as they made their way towards the elevators.

"Yes, but unlike you, she is cute." _'Ha, got you there.' _Finn thought to himself.

"Finn, I taught her everything she knows!" Rory shot back cheekily, she knew it was a weak retort but she didn't care.

Finn sighed dramatically in defeat. "I know." He answered as he stepped onto the elevator to head up towards the main photography office.

Rory smiled. "How are Paris and Nathan?" Who would have thought that Finn would be married to Paris Gellar and have a kid? He was so great with both of them, as well as Emma. You could tell he loved his family so much.

"There great, love. We'll do lunch."

"Yeah, maybe." She answered as the doors began to close. She gave Finn another smile and began heading towards Marc's desk where she knew Emma would be. Rory thought with a smile. Rory loved that she could have Emma at work, everyone loved the little girl. It also gave Rory and her more time together, though Marc would always steal her away and spoil her. Emma had mastered her mother's bambi eyes that you just could not say no to by the time she was a year old. She was walking down the hall, greeting those who greeted her and could not help but smile. The office was like another home and family to her, everyone helped her for she was the youngest editor there and they all looked out for her and Emma when they knew times were tough. Rory heard another 'ding!' from the elevator and smiled.

She _really _loved it here.

Rory was only a little way away from Marc's desk when she a familiar masculine voice sing out to no one in particular. So she thought.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?"

A huge smile spread out across Rory's face. She turned in the direction she thought the voice was coming from and her smile widened, if that was even possible. "Tris…" she whispered to herself as her eyes met those icy blue ones of her old friend. He looked straight back at her and smiled a warm genuine smile.

"Like what you see Mare?" he asked, a cocky smirk gracing his features.

"You'll never change will you?" Though she wouldn't have him any other way, she loved him so much and couldn't help but think what she'd do without him? She would never tell him this though; his ego would get even bigger!

"You wouldn't have me any other way." Tristan stated as she began running, well as best as she could in a black, just-below-the-knee length pencil skirt and black pumps. He held his arms out wide and she jumped into them eagerly. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and spun her around a few times. "Tristan!" she squealed as he did this. He placed her back firmly on the ground and leaned back in the embrace and smiled at her.

"I've missed you Mare." He stated looking into her eyes warmly. Tristan had always loved her; he didn't think that it would ever go away. Ever since that day in military school, when he got a large, long letter from one, Miss Rory Gilmore-Hayden, he knew his life would never be the same. And he knew how dorky and cliché that sounded but it was true, that letter had changed his life. Ever since that day, he and Rory had been the closest friends and he along with Finn were the godparents of her child, Emma. He knew that he and Rory would never be anything more with friends, but he always had hope, even if it was only a slight piece.

"I missed you too Bible Boy." Rory replied as he hugged him once more before letting go and stepping out of his embrace. She openly gave him the once over and smiled, and nodded in confirmation. "Australia really agrees with you Dugrey. Look at you, all tanned and tall. It's nice." Tristan had spent the last month in Australia helping his fathers business set up another office for the company. He was supposed to take over in the next year or so and secretly couldn't wait, he knew being CEO of Dugrey Law Firm would be hard, but he was ready for it.

"Yes, well you definitely don't look to bad yourself Mary, always easy on the eye." He said with a smirk and a clever eyebrow raise.

"Yeah, whatever." Rory replied, giving him a playful smack on the arm at the same time. Rory really enjoyed having Tristan around. She knew he loved her, more than in a friendly way but he also knew that she didn't feel the same way about him. She was so grateful for their friendship though, and he knew that. Ever since Yale, Tristan, along with Colin McRae, Stephanie Vanderbilt (soon to be McRae), Finn Rothschild and _Logan Huntzberger_, had made Rory appreciate things so much more. One of those things being friends and the ones she loves, they had all taught her to love the people around her and they had been there for her (besides Logan) when Emma was born and when Rory found out she was pregnant, Rory was truly grateful for them all.

"I am so glad your back though! Things got a little crazy without you around, especially Steph and all her wedding plans. She's worse than my mother I swear." Rory said with an amusing eye roll.

Tristan chuckled. "If I had known that I would be missed this much Mare, I would have gone sooner." He said with a smirk plastered across his face.

"You're so cocky! But either way, you had to be back because it's my birthday tomorrow." A huge grin spreading across Rory's face as she said this.

"I know, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. You know that."

"Yeah, I know. It's hard not to miss me, or anything about me for that matter." her smile turning into a smirk causing Tristan to laugh again.

"I'm brushing off on you too much Mary."

"No that's from another old friend." Rory said before she knew what she was saying. She looked down at her feet, felling the awkwardness between them.

Tristan sighed and gave her a sympathetic smile when she met his gaze. His eyes filled with a warmth that could always comfort her. Rory sent him a small smile in return. He was about to open his mouth and say something to maybe ease the tension when they heard the high pitched giggle of a little girl. They both turned towards the noise and let out a small laugh at what they saw.

Marc had Emma on the ground laughing uncontrollably as he tickled her madly.

The duo approached the pair with smiles on their faces as the young girl's laughter filled the before, quiet reception.

"Stop … it … Marcy …" were the noises heard in between the breaths and giggles of the four year old.

"Not until you tell me you did it you little terror." He said teasingly. Rory and Tristan still standing to the side watching the interaction play out.

"I'm not … a …t-terror."

"Oh yes you are! Say you did it!" Marc demanded playfully whilst still attacking her sides with his fingers crazily.

"Ok … I d-did it!" Emma screamed with another high-pitched giggle.

Marc made a noise of victory and stood from the floor, smiling down at the girl now pulling on her mothers hands to get up, a look of annoyance gracing her cute, child features. Emma pushed the hair falling around her face out of her eyes and shot Marc an angry look before turning to her mom and whining.

"Mommy, Marcy was being mean to me." She stated giving her mom her big blue pleading Bambi eyes.

Rory had to stifle a laugh as she heard Marc muttering words of a rebuttal under his breath before he spoke up.

"It wasn't I who was being mean, you," he said pointing at Emma to give a better reaction. "Were the one stealing my staples and you, were the one who so 'accidentally' clicked the mouse button causing me to loose all my work on the computer for George. He is going to kill me!" Marc finished his rant by throwing his hands up in the air. He turned back to Rory and Emma who were both openly laughing at his antics but immediately stopped when they saw how serious he was.

"What?" he asked in disbelief. "You're with her on this one, this little terror!"

Rory stifled her next laugh and said with a straight face. "Marc I'm sure it wasn't that bad. You've handled her _and_ my mother at _once_ before, I think you'll be ok." Rory stated reassuringly as she remembered the time she asked Marc to keep an eye on Emma and Lorelai which had only been a disaster as they had successfully damaged one of the printers and caused his and four others computers to crash. But they both deny it to this day saying it was all him for he was chasing after them.

"Yes, yes I guess you're right. Well now that you're out of your meeting you can have her back. _I_ have work to do." He said as he turned to walk away.

"Oh, Marc couldn't you just take-" Rory started but was cut off by Tristan.

"Don't worry about it Mary, I got it."

"Her name isn't Mary its _Rory_." Emma said matter of factly before she turned to look at the man that had called her mother a name only one person was allowed to call her. The little girl's eyes widened when she saw who it was, causing Tristan to smile a genuine smile and open his arms wide again as another Gilmore girl jumped into them for a hug.

"Hey Bluey, how you doing?" Tristan asked, using his nickname for her. She had been named Bluey by him since the day she arrived home from the hospital and Tristan, along with their other four friends had been at home waiting for the mother and daughter to return. Her eyes were as blue as her mothers and were the first thing he noticed about her.

"I'm good." She said sweetly smiling up at him as he held her in his arms.

Rory smiled as he watched her daughter and best friend chat about anything. Tristan had been such a father to Emma and she knew that one day he wanted a child of his own and when that day was to come, he would be a great father, just like Finn, with Emma and with Nathan, he was a natural. Rory only wished that if Logan had stayed around he would be just as natural as Tristan and have the loving emotion fill his gaze when he looked at their beautiful daughter.

"So," Tristan started after his animated discussion with Emma about ruining Marc's work, he placed Emma on he floor in front of him and put his hand into his designer denims pocket, slowly pulling out a small, flat box as he spoke. "When I was away I thought. 'Hmm Emma is a little girl-"

"A big girl!" she interrupted.

"Ahh, yes, a big girl. So as I was saying. When I was in Australia, I was walking around the city and thought to myself, 'Emma is a big girl, and she likes pink things and she likes fast things.' And then I turned around to look in one of the shops and there, right in front of me was something I knew that you would love." He said with a smile. He was very proud of this gift and also knew for a fact that Colin was thinking of buying Emma once of these things, now Tristan was one up on him.

"Tristan please tell me you didn't?" Rory asked with a roll of her eyes. All he did was smirk back at her and she let out a low groan. "You do realize that Colin was going to buy her one for her birthday in a few months?" his only response was a short and very cocky, "I know" before he turned back to Emma and squatted down on his haunches so he was level with her.

He pulled the box out of his pocket and handed it to her. Emma looked down at the box in her hands, confusion washing over her as she continued to stare at the small white box with a blue bow around it. She made quick work with the ribbon and threw it to the floor before opening the box and taking out what was set in it.

"Uncle Tristan, what's this?" asked Emma in a voice as she looked at the object dejectedly.

Tristan laughed at the girl and at Rory as he saw her roll her eyes again and gave him a look which clearly said, 'I cannot believe you did this'. "Well, sweetie, it's a key. You put it in things and they open, or in this case they move."

"Really?" asked Emma, she was now looking at the key with great interest. "Well, what does my key do?"

Tristan just chuckled. "Do you want to find out?" Emma nodded her head furiously and grabbed Tristan's hand as she attempted to pull him down the hall and towards the elevators. "I guess that a yes then! See you later Mary, and don't worry, she's with me."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Rory called to Tristan's retreating back as she finally made her way to her office for the morning.

"She's only four years old for goodness sakes. Next time he'll buy her a space ship or something." Rory muttered to herself, sitting in her comfy leather chair behind her desk and switching her computer on.

"Who's getting a spaceship? I want one." Came Finn's familiar accented tone from the doorway.

"Emma." Rory stated simply with a smile.

"Oh. And who may I ask is getting her this spaceship?"

"Tristan."

"Love, if you give me another one word answer, I'm seriously going to start questioning how you ever got into Yale. Tristan is in Australia anyways."

"Finn, even you should know. The old man's money." She smiled to herself seeing Finn's annoyed expression. He was about to open his mouth to ask her again for the answer when she opened her own, easily cutting him off. "Tristan, is no longer in Australia, he's back and has just taken Emma down to see her present. And I know for a fact that it is something fast and pink."

Finn laughed. "Colin's going to kill him."

"That's exactly what I told him." Rory said laughing as well.

"Well then, love, I think it is best if I go give the man an Australian welcoming." And with that Finn was out the door.

Rory smiled to herself once more before turning back to the computer and clicking on her flashing e-mail's icon.

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"Ok thanks Jules, I'll talk to you about the cover shoot in a few days … Yep, when I decide what I want them to wear … Of course, it's a date … Ok, I'll talk to you soon … Later … Bye." '_Gosh that woman can talk.'_ Rory thought to her as she hung up the phone after talking to Julia Simons for over an hour about anything put the reason she had actually called until the last few moments. "I'm in dire need of coffee right now." Rory muttered to herself as she began to stand from her desk. She was just about to step out of her doorway when her phone started ringing.

"Ahh …" Rory let out a frustrated groan and earned a sympathetic smile from one of the junior-assistants as she walked past the editor's door. Rory shut her door and turned back to the offending machine and slowly took her time to answer it upon seeing the caller ID. Rory reached for the phone and pressed the speaker button so she sat in her chair and got comfortable.

"Hey Grandma." Rory started with the formalities first.

"Rory, dear, what took you so long to answer the phone? Oh, I can hear myself echoing. Am I on speaker phone to you Rory? Oh, you know how I hate it." Emily Gilmore rambled on.

"Sorry Grandma," Rory let out a sigh. "I can't find my handset so I have to use this, but don't worry Marc is looking for it as we speak." _'A lie, but oh well, she can't exactly tell that it's a lie.'_

"Rory, don't lie to me, you never were a very good liar like your mother, but I didn't ring you to discuss your ability to lie. In fact I rang you to see whether you were ready for your fabulous birthday party tomorrow night."

"Yes Grandma, I'm ready. I made sure that I had everything taken care of this past week so I don't and shouldn't have to get called in once this weekend, or at least once tomorrow. Everyone knows that it's my birthday so it's all taken care of."

"Well that's splendid dear. Are you doing anything this evening? It was just today that I remember how your mother, your father, Kevin and you used to come to our house every Friday for dinner along with Francine and Straub, oh how I miss those nights…" Emily's voice trailed off as she lost herself in her own thoughts. She knew Lorelai hated the dinners and the rest of them were not somewhat far behind her but they would never know how much those dinners meant to her. She knew also, that for Francine and Straub, it was good for them all to come together as a family, even after the trouble with Lorelai's first pregnancy. They as a family had all pulled through.

"Um, actually I have no idea what I am doing tonight probably just a quiet night in." Replied Rory, aware of Emily's distraction.

"That sounds nice, dear. Well I best be off, I think Richard has just returned from playing a round of golf with some of his old college friends. I'll see you tomorrow at the party dear, and don't forget to remind your mother to be on time. I know Christopher is always telling her to hurry up but I don't think she listens to him very much. Maybe ask her yourself? Either way I am looking forward to seeing you again."

"Ok Grandma, I'll talk to you tomorrow night. Bye." Rory hung up the phone and sighed. "Now for the coffee." Rory said to herself again as she started getting up from her chair before sitting back down again for the phone was ringing. "Why must this thing keep ringing?" Rory asked the room out loud. "Hello?" she answered once she had put the phone to her ear.

"Hey sweets, how you doing?"

"Hey mom." Rory answered with a sigh, making it easy to tell that she had had enough.

"Oh, kid, is it really that bad?"

"No, not really, they are actually pretty good, but I recently got off the phone with Julia and you know how long those conversations can last. Then just as I was walking to the door to get coffee I get a call from grandma just asking if I was ready for tomorrow night and if I had plans for tonight. Then she mentioned how she missed Friday night dinners but I wasn't very sympathetic and just now, as I was about to stand, you called. But you calling is ok, I really need a happy conversation that I know will make me smile when I hang up. At least I hope that's what you're doing. Calling and making me smile?" Asked Rory with a slight hint of hope in her voice, today had been good except Finn being late, but other then that it had been fine.

"Wow, you have suffered, Julia and Grandma in one bashing. Now all you need is for Francine to call and for me telling you that I can't make it till late for your party tomorrow night. Ha ha." Lorelai let out a small laugh, hoping the obliviousness in Rory was working right now. She knew her daughter would hate it if she wasn't at the Gilmore mansion when she arrived.

"Was that you trying to make me laugh or you trying to tell me, hoping that I would be oblivious, that you can't make it till late tomorrow night? Because if it was the latter, you do realise that I will be annoyed."

"I am so so_ so_ sorry honey. You have no idea how much I would like to be there early but I have to go to New Haven to organise this thing for one of mom's friends but I will be there as soon as possible." Lorelai rushed through her reason not wanting Rory to get too mad.

"Moooom." Rory whined into the phone. "You know I can't stand it and then there's Emma too. Who's going to give her the good old 'birds and bees' play with the bread sticks at dinner?" Rory asked, trying to lessen the annoyance in her that her mother would be in New Haven of the day of her birthday organising something for Emily.

"Babe, you know how much I want to be there for you, and don't worry. I'll teach your dad the show so he can do it if I don't make it back in time, but don't worry because I will be there. Don't worry, I'll be there. Besides, Kevin will be too. I know you are excited about seeing him. When was the last time you saw him? When he came down for Emma's recital? Hmm…?"

"Yeah around then I guess. So, um… Is that all or was there something else you wanted to talk about?" Rory asked. The fact that her mom wasn't going to be there wasn't exactly the thing annoying her. It was more the fact that Lorelai had never missed one of Rory's, or Kevin's birthdays and that this was going to be the first one and it sucked. She didn't care if she was being a baby, she wanted her mom there.

"No I guess not. Is there anything that you wanted to talk about?" Lorelai asked as concern filled her voice. Rory used to get really emotional around the time of her birthday for it was a month before Logan had left her and she would sometimes just sit at home in bed and cry, though she did that on any day of the week sometimes.

"No, I'm fine…Oh, wait, Tristan's back!" Rory said excitedly as she remembered of her friend's surprised appearance.

"What? Bible Boy? Spawn of Satan, has returned from Down Under? Is he hotter?" Lorelai asking the last part of her questioning in a low, seductive voice.

"Mom? Seriously? Finn is infatuated by you, isn't that enough?"

"Finn doesn't count anymore. Now he is married and has a child. Now that's kinda icky."

"So it wasn't icky when we were still in college?"

"No, then it was cute!"

"Yeah, because that's logical?" The sarcasm evident in Rory's tone.

"Hey, don't tease mommy. I gave birth to you."

"Yes and you are also missing part of you daughter's birthday party at the Gilmore Mansion."

"Right." Lorelai remembered and suddenly felt sad again. "I really am sorry kid. You know if I could, I would be there in a heart beat."

"Yeah, I do. But telling Grandma won't be as easy as it was me."

"Ahh, yes. How fun will that be? Gosh, I swear that woman hates me."

"Mom, you know she doesn't. She just prefers me!"

"Shhhh, don't go telling everybody."

"Ok, so I'll talk to you tomorrow and will hopefully see you tomorrow night." Rory stated now wanting coffee even more than she did earlier.

"Correction. I will talk to you tomorrow and you _will_ see me tomorrow." She tried to enforce the words in Rory's head hoping that her daughter didn't have any doubt that she would see her tomorrow.

"Ok mom, talk to you tomorrow."

"Ok, I love you, kid."

Rory smiled to herself. "I love you to mom. Say hi to dad for me?"

"Of course I will sweets. Bye."

Rory hung up the phone and stood quickly before the phone could ring again. She opened the door and saw a large group of people walking between one another and smiled at a few people walking by and thought of something she had thought earlier that day. _'This was definitely like another home.'_ She smiled one more time before leaving her office, in search of her much need coffee.

* * *

_**Beta Note:** Hey, Readers...Just wanted to say I hope everyone is having an amazing week and is not too bogged down with school. I hope that you will enjoy the story that Kass and I are working so hard to come up with an interesting chapters for you all to enjoy. Please tell us what you like or didn't like as all comments are appreciated. HUGS!!! _

**A/N: Hey readers!**

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. No drama at the moment, more of an introduction to the work place and some old friends. **

**Thank you all so so so much for your reviews last chapter, and I'm sorry if in this chapter you were expecting some Logan. But don't worry; he should be coming up in the next chapter or two. My beta and I are still discussing ideas for that.**

**So now you know the drill…Please review and let us know what you think!**

**-Kass x**


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